Roses In Full Bloom
by pretty in orange
Summary: Their relationship has been a secret for fifty years... but now it's impossible to hide it any longer. Rosa, with hints of Shiyori and Kenshiro. T for language and implications.
1. Discovery

A/N: This was number four on my list, my huge list of ideas and plotting. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or make any profit from this.

* * *

_Thump._

Rose turned to where Lisa had been standing. The girl was now on the floor, on her knees, clutching the side of the couch for support.

Crouching beside her, he asked, "Lisa, what's wrong?" Rose glanced around before taking her hand gently. Their relationship had been a secret for all of its fifty years, and they weren't about to let anyone find out now.

"I'm fine." Lisa's hand tightened noticeably around the chunk of couch in her grip. "Get out of my face." Her face had paled, and she looked nervous. Lisa wasn't a nervous person; Rose knew that like any of the other vizards. She had to be feeling pretty bad to be worried about herself.

"Don't lie to me." Rose raked his eyes over her, trying to identify a cause. She seemed dizzy, but that could be a lot of things. "What's wrong?"

Lisa, though she gave him a slight glare, sighed. "My heart is beating in my throat." She huffed, trying to ease herself onto her feet, still unsteady. "I'm fine, it'll go away."

Rose shook his head, scooping her up. "You're going to get some rest." In his head, he was using the two puzzle pieces he had to try and think what could be wrong with his girlfriend. As he laid her in bed, he eyed her calendar. A red slash across last week's dates made his eyes go wide.

"You didn't have a menstrual cycle this month, did you?" Rose studied her. He knew everything about Lisa, and her periods were certain things, the second week of every month, every time.

"No." Lisa refused to look away. She stared him down, unblinking. "I was going to tell you tomorrow. I thought it could just be stress..."

"Lisa, you know damn well that being late by two weeks isn't stress." Rose ran his fingers through his hair, more stressed than angry. Hell, he could never really be mad at Lisa. He loved her too much to ever be angry with her for long.

Lisa blinked. She said nothing, but her blinking became rapid-fire blinks and she clenched her jaw. Rose sat beside her, that tiny bit of anger fading at a moment's notice.

"We tried to be careful." He muttered, lying beside her on the bed. "But..."

"This is no one's fault." Lisa said, evenly, though her glasses were steaming up just a bit. "Being 'careful' doesn't guarantee anything. So don't even go there, got it." It was a statement, not a question. She didn't want to go down that road, that much was clear. "And don't tell me what to do about this... this..." Lisa paused to wipe her glasses on her shirt and rub her eyes before starting over. "Don't tell me what to do because I've already decided."

Rose couldn't help but flinch at her decisiveness. "Alright, what are we doing then?"

"We're keeping it." Lisa's gaze was even, calm, even a bit cold. Rose couldn't help but wonder what she thought he would say to that. Did she think he would disagree?

"Alright." Rose nodded, relief flooding him. "When are we going to tell everyone?" He changed the subject as quickly as he could; wanting to let her know that subject was final.

"As soon as possible." Lisa's voice quivered a bit on the last word. "According to my calculations, I'm already past the point where most miscarriages happen, so we might as well just tell everyone."

"Hey." Rose turned her towards him, gently. He felt as if Lisa had suddenly become an antique porcelain doll that he had to treat gently or break. Not that he was usually rough with her, but now he felt as if he could barely touch her without hurting her. "Look at me."

Lisa tipped her head up to look at him. "I'm looking at you, now what?" Her voice held a teasing tone, something that Rose was glad for. He couldn't stand it when she was upset.

Leaning in, he kissed her softly.

Though it had been a shock at first, he was glad. Now only one big challenge – or in their case, six smaller ones, stood in the way of their happiness.

* * *

A/N: So there's the first chapter. The other's should be up shortly, so what did you think?


	2. Love

A/N: I'm aiming to have this all up tonight, so I hope I can do it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or make any profit from this.

* * *

"Who are we telling first?" Rose asked as he lay next to Lisa in her bed. Her dizzy spells had been bothering her for the whole morning, to the point where she had thrown up in the bathroom shortly after she woke up. But the three pregnancy tests she had taken had given the same result: positive, positive, and positive.

"Love." Lisa muttered, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. "He's our best friend, you know that. He goes first." Rose sighed slightly. Typical that she'd pick Love to go first. Love was one of the people that he feared the reaction the most. After all, Love was their best friend. And they had kept a fifty-year relationship from Love. Somehow, Rose just knew he wouldn't be happy about the whole thing.

"When will you be able to get up?" Rose kissed her forehead, at the same time trying not to move the bed too much. Everything he researched said that the dizzy spells and nausea would pass with time, but Lisa's dizziness seemed to be sticking.

"When the room stops spinning." Lisa huffed. "Or in five minutes, whichever comes first. I don't care, I'm getting up soon." Rose smiled; he could see the independent girl he knew shining through the walls of aggravation and exhaustion. That was the one thing that let him know everything would be alright. Lisa wasn't crumbling under the pressure, so he didn't need to either.

Five minutes passed, and Lisa forced herself to her feet. Even though she was a little wobbly, she made it out the door and towards Love's room. Rose stayed beside her, ready to catch her if she fell over, Lisa swatting at his hand the whole way.

"Love." Lisa pounded on Love's bedroom door. "Love! I need to talk to you."

Love opened the door, looking between Rose and Lisa. "Don't tell me there's another group meeting. Whatever it is, I didn't do it this time." He studied Lisa, who was leaning heavily on the wall, his face going serious. "Lisa, you alright?"

"I need to talk to you." Lisa cast a glance at Rose. "We need to talk to you. Can we come in?" She frowned at Love when he didn't move out of the way. "Aikawa, let us in." Her tone was scary even. "I'm not in the mood to be messed with right now." Love backed up and Lisa stumbled into the room, leaning back against the wall, trying to look casual and failing. Rose tried, momentarily, to help Lisa lean on him, before he was shoved away.

"Shut the door." Lisa instructed, and when Love didn't move, Rose shut the door quietly.

"We have something to tell you." Rose tried to steady Lisa, but she smacked his hand away with her knuckles, and none too lightly either. "Lisa, do you want to tell him?" Love looked between them, eyebrows drawn in with worry. He didn't say anything, but Rose could feel the tension. He wondered if Lisa could feel it too, or if her dizziness had taken that asset away temporarily.

"How about you tell him. He was your friend first." Lisa leaned against the wall, her jaw clenched. It was clear that she wasn't budging on that subject, and Rose sighed.

"We've been together for about fifty years, Love." Rose nodded at Lisa. "Lisa and I have been in love for almost fifty one years. And Lisa's pregnant with my child." Love's eyes went wide behind his sunglasses, and Rose worried about his dear friend having a heart attack. "Love, you alright?" Rose asked slowly.

"You two? I never would've guessed..." Love's face was frozen in an expression of unadulterated shock.

"That was the whole point." Lisa interjected. "We were trying to hide it. But now it's become quite obvious that we're not going to be able to hide it from anyone anymore, so we're telling everyone. I suggest you keep that to yourself until we've told everyone else, you understand?" Love nodded, blinking. "Good." Lisa turned and exited the room, though wobbling. Rose followed her only after casting an apologetic look at his friend.

"One down, five to go." Lisa huffed, collapsing back onto her bed. "I just need a nap first." Rose laughed and let her rest, sitting beside her. Love's reaction could've been so much worse... they could only hope the remaining five could react as well.

* * *

A/N: next up are Hiyori and Shinji! I'm tag-teaming them, and Kensei and Mashiro are going together too. So, what'd you think?


	3. Shinji and Hiyori

A/N: Here's the Shinji and Hiyori chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and I make no profit from this.

* * *

"If this is some kinky sex thing, don't drag me into it!" Hiyori snapped, trying to get away from Shinji. "Let go of me!"

"They just want to talk to us." Shinji sighed. "If I didn't know better I'd think you were PMSing." At that, Hiyori twisted around and chomped down on his hand. "OW! Get your snaggletooth out of my hand you little vampire!" Shinji proceeded to wrestle with Hiyori on the ground.

"Rose and I are together." Lisa said, watching the two fight. "And I'm pregnant."

"Let me guess, you don't know who the father is- DON'T PULL MY PIGTAILS YOU SON OF A-" Hiyori thrashed wildly. Annoyance played across Lisa's face, but she pushed it down almost immediately.

"Rose is the father of my baby, Hiyori." Lisa said, although Rose was trying to tug her away from the scene at hand. "And you're being very childish." Hiyori glared at her, but Shinji quickly tugged her back into the fight. He cast a long glance at Lisa, one that said, _Go. Go now._

Returning to Lisa's room, Rose shut the door. "Did Shinji even hear me?" Lisa narrowed her eyes at Rose. "He didn't seem shocked at all. Did he know?"

"Shinji is very intuitive." Rose sighed. "And he was too preoccupied to be shocked. Do you honestly think he could've been shocked visibly while he was fighting with Hiyori? She would've taken him out." Lisa shook her head slightly, and paced the room. Rose was at least happy that she was steady on her feet now, even if it had been replaced with moodiness.

"He knew." Lisa continued to pace, making sharper turns "Does that mean he told everyone else?"

"Well, he didn't tell Love." Rose noted, catching a glimpse of Lisa as she turned again. "You're going to make yourself dizzy." He warned. Lisa shook her head. "Ok, so what if he did?"

"I don't know." Lisa sat down on her bed. "I don't know why it's bothering me so much that he knew. Shinji's probably the most harmless person who could've known besides Hachi..."

"Then stop obsessing." Rose leaned down and kissed her forehead. "It shouldn't bother you if he knew. As long as Mashiro or Hiyori didn't know, I think we're still in the clear." Lisa wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him.

"Thank you." She murmured in his ear. Her breath on Rose's ear was making him feel things he probably shouldn't have in the situation.

"You made yourself dizzy, didn't you?" Rose sighed.

"Be quiet and enjoy the moment." Lisa muttered, cuddling up to him. Rose pushed her back onto the bed and lay beside her. "Hachi's going next." Lisa added, closing her eyes. "And then we'll try to get Mashiro and Kensei together, that way we have an extra pair of hands to control Mashiro when she has a spazz attack." Rose nodded without saying anything. So far, the announcements had gone well. He didn't expect anything less than congratulations from Hachi, so at least he knew they were safe for the next round.

* * *

A/N: This chapter took forever and a week. So much for having this done quickly. What did you think?


	4. Final Discovery

A/N: This chapter has a bit of a twist to it, though not much. After this will be the epilogue.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach; I make no profit from this.

* * *

"Hachi, can we speak to you?" Lisa was standing on her own this time, and she seemed very together. Her dizzy spells, nausea, and moodiness had all subsided, at least for now.

"Of course." Hachi shut the door behind them, waiting patiently. Rose studied the larger man's face, trying to decide if he needed to worry at all.

"Lisa and I have been lying to everyone here for a little over fifty years." Rose sighed; it was his turn to tell the story. "Lisa and I have been together romantically for that long, and now Lisa is pregnant."

"_WHAT?_" Came a loud yell from outside the door. "Lisa's pregnant! Kensei, Lisa's pregnant!" When the yeller got only a grumble in response, Mashiro whipped open the door, darting over to Lisa and pulling her shirt up to her bra line. "Aww you can't tell yet!" Mashiro pouted as Kensei stepped inside the room, picking her up over his shoulder and attempted to walk out with the babbling girl going on and on about how she wanted a baby too.

Kensei groaned, something that sounded a lot like "Thanks a lot." Before going into his room and shutting the door a mite too loudly. Rose and Lisa looked at Hachi, trying to pretend that hadn't happened.

"Congratulations!" Hachi smiled at them. "I'm happy for you. You told the truth and you're going to have a baby." He gave both of them a gentle hug.

"You don't seem surprised." Lisa commented, pulling at her shirt. She hated it when Mashiro got grabby with her clothes. "Did everyone know?"

"Hiyori and Mashiro didn't know." Hachi lowered his voice to a whisper. "But Shinji, Love and I knew. We just wanted to keep it a secret long enough that you'd tell us on your own." Lisa said nothing, but she turned and headed for Love's room.

_Now that did it._ Rose sighed. _She's going to kill Love. I knew it would happen someday, I just didn't think it would be so soon._

Lisa whipped open Love's door and fixed him with a cold glare. "You're mine and Rose's best friend." She said, evenly, her tone colder than dry ice. "And yet you failed to tell us that everyone knew we were together. Do you know what I'm going to do now?" Love took a step back, looking more than a little panicked. A ghost of a smirk painted across Lisa's lips as she continued. "I'm going to give you a free pass right now because I don't want to put any stress on my body, and, incidentally, the baby. But if you continue to make me this mad, there will be hell to pay. You won't know where, or when but..." Lisa trailed off, letting the smirk on her lips grow. "I'll see you later, Love." She turned and left the room, going to Rose's room instead of hers. Rose followed at her heels.

"You were just toying with him, weren't you?" Rose asked, close to laughter as Lisa lay on Rose's bed. "You used to do that same exact thing to Shunsui Kyoraku, disregarding the pregnancy thing." Lisa looked up at him, a tiny smile gracing her lips.

"I do want to have fun occasionally." Lisa shook her head, dispelling the smile. "Speaking of fun..." She kicked the door shut and pulled Rose onto the bed.

* * *

Outside their room, Kensei covered Mashiro's ears in an attempt to shield her from the noise. Love laughed out loud, and Hiyori's eyes went wide.

"Don't tell me we have to put up with THAT all the time now." She huffed.

Hachi shook his head slightly, and Shinji just joined Love in the laughter.

* * *

A/N: So, essentially, this is the end of the story. But I'm going to have an epilogue up shortly, so it's not quite over.


	5. Epilogue

A/N: Here's the epilogue, and then I'm done here. Hope you enjoy. Set roughly 13 months after the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, and I make no profit from this.

* * *

"Ren." Lisa whispered softly as she rocked the baby girl in the rocking chair. "Go to sleep." Ren yawned and blinked her turquoise eyes up at her Mother. Her blonde hair was tousled, and wanted to stay mussed no matter how much Lisa smoothed it. Lisa was enthralled with her new daughter. Not only was she adorable, but she clearly took after her father in temperament. Mashiro yelling? She couldn't be calmer. Shinji and Hiyori fighting just outside the door? Big whoop. Lisa couldn't have asked for a better baby.

"Do you want me to take over?" Rose stood in the doorway of Ren's nursery. "You've been in here trying to get her to sleep for nearly an hour and a half."

"I can handle it." Lisa said softly, but when she glanced down at Ren, the baby had slipped into sleep. "Hm." Lisa stood and gently set Ren in her crib.

"She looks just like you." Rose whispered, nuzzling Lisa's cheek. "Exactly like you."

"She has your hair and your facial structure. How does she look like me?" Lisa turned to Rose, her own turquoise eyes half lidded. God, it had been a long night. Ren rarely cried unless she needed something, but Lisa couldn't stand for her to be awake without someone there.

"She reminds me of you." Rose murmured. "She's asleep now, and you need to get some sleep. Come on." He guided her back to their bedroom, helping her into bed. "Get some rest. You know you need it." He slipped into bed next to her, pulling her back to his chest. Lisa eyed the baby monitor on their nightstand, but finally closed her eyes and let herself drift off.

Rose stay awake a while, listening to see if Ren would wake back up. But then, when it was clear she was sleeping soundly, Rose laid his head on the pillow next to Lisa's and closed his eyes.

Draping an arm over her, he let his hand rest on the small, but noticeable bump on Lisa's stomach.

* * *

A/N: Ugh, my epilogues are always so short... It's frustrating for me. Anyway, what'd you think?


End file.
